Contents

Chris Riddell was born in 1962 in South Africa where his father was a "liberal Anglican vicar"[6] and was opposed to the system of apartheid. The family returned to England when Chris was one year old, where he spent the rest of his childhood with his sister and three brothers who are now living in South Africa, Brighton, England, and Egypt. Chris displayed artistic talent from an early age, and was encouraged in this by his mother. (She gave him paper and pen to keep quiet during father's sermons.)[6] As a child, he admired the work of John Tenniel, the first illustrator of Alice in Wonderland, and W. Heath Robinson. At Brighton Polytechnic he studied illustration; one teacher was Raymond Briggs, an earlier winner of two Greenaway Medals.[7] In 2002 he named as influences Tenniel and E. H. Shepard, the first illustrator of The Wind in the Willows and Winnie the Pooh.[6]

Some of Riddell's most notable work is The Edge Chronicles (from 1998), a children's book series co-written with Paul Stewart and illustrated by Riddell alone. Set in the fictional world known as "The Edge", the books have been praised for Chris's beautifully detailed line drawings and the unique nature of their collaborative writing process.[clarification needed]

For his illustrations, Riddell was a commended runner-up for the 1994 Greenaway Medal (Something Else by Kathryn Cave) and highly commended for 1999 (Castle Diary by Richard Platt).[3][a] He won the 2001 Medal for illustrating Pirate Diary: The Journal of Jake Carpenter by Platt.[1] The press release called Pirate Diary the first "information book" to win the Medal since 1975 and "a fictionalised account". "[W]hen he spoke with author Richard Platt the harsh necessities of historical accuracy came into play. 'Everything I got excited about got shot down. No parrots, eye-patches or wooden legs. Thank god there were weapons and amputations!'" (quoting Riddell).[6] (After Castle Diary and Pirate Diary, Platt continued the Diary series with illustrator David Parkins.)

Three years later Riddell won the Greenaway again (no one has won three) for his work on Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver" (Walker, 2004), retold by Martin Jenkins from the 1726 classic Gulliver's Travels.[2] The panel chair commented, "Gulliver is a tour de force. Chris Riddell has given us 144 pages of fantastic, faultless illustrations, which constantly extend the power of the text. Our winning title also proves that today's picture books are not just for the youngest age-groups, but are an important source of pleasure and learning for readers of all ages."[7] (The 2001 and 2004 panels recommended Pirate Diary and Gulliver for readers age 8+ and 10+, while their recommendations for thirteen other shortlisted books ranged from 2+ to 7+.)

Beside writing and illustrating books, Riddell is an acclaimed political cartoonist for The Observer newspaper in London, where his caricatures of politicians from John Major to Gordon Brown, Bill Clinton to George W. Bush, have earned him a reputation as a fine draughtsman and acute commentator on the political scene. Before working at The Observer, Chris spent time working at The Economist as an illustrator and occasional cover artist.

Chris Riddell is the cover artist for the Literary Review magazine formerly edited by Auberon Waugh, a role which he took over from the late Willie Rushton. Chris's serial gag cartoon for this magazine called "Illustration to Unwritten Books" was published in book form as The Da Vinci Cod And Other Illustrations To Unwritten Books.

Some of these Awards and related honours may have recognised the writers of books Riddell illustrated. The two Greenaway Medals, two commendations, and three shortlists recognised Riddell as illustrator.

Awards

1997Something Else, written by Kathryn Cave, won the UNESCO Prize for Children's and Young People's Literature in the Service of Tolerance[9]

^ abcdToday there are usually eight books on the Greenaway shortlist. According to CCSU, some runners-up through 2002 were Commended (from 1959) or Highly Commended (from 1974). There were 29 highly commended runners-up in 24 years to 2002, including Riddell and Lauren Child in 1999. During that time there were about three annual commendations of both kinds; two in 1994.
• No one has won three Greenaways. Among the fourteen illustrators with two Medals, Riddell is one of seven with at least one highly commended runner-up (1974–2002), led by Helen Oxenbury with two Medals and four HC.

^Dave McKean illustrated the UK Adult Edition and the US edition of The Graveyard Book.